Clip or clasp



W. H. STEVENS.

kCLIP OR.CLASP. APPLICATION FILED NOV-10,1919.

Patented 11116 14, 1921 UNITED STATES WILLIAM H. STEVENS, OF NEVT YORK, N. Y.

CLIP OR CLASP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 14, 1921.

Original application filed September 26, 1918, Serial No. 255,783. Divided and this application filed November 10, 1919. Serial No. 337,067.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM H. S'rnvENs, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clips or Clasps, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention is a necktie clasp or clip of the type disclosed in my application Serial No. 255,783, this case being a division from that application.

The objects of the invention are to provide a simple and inexpensive device of this character which can be constructed from a single piece of material and which will have eX- ceptional gripping or holding qualities.

These objects 1 have accomplished by a novel construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter particularly described and claimed, one form of the same being illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

In. said drawing, Figure 1 is a view of the device as used for a necktie clasp; Figs. 2 and 3 are edge views of the device, the latter showing it in the gripping position; Fig. l is a plan view of the blank from which the clasp is made.

The device is usually fashioned from a biank of fiat spring metal such as shown in Fig. 4: and comprising in effect a frame having side members 5 and 6, a rear end 7 and a forward end 8, surrounding a tongue 9, defined by through cuts or slots 10.

At the forward or free end of the tongue the cut is serrated or saw toothed and in the shaping of the article from the flat, the saw tooth portions at the forward end of the tongue and at the inner edge of the frame, indicated at 11, are reversely bent, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 so as to form oppositely projecting and alternately disposed teeth 12 and 13 on the free end of the tongue and the adjacent edge of the frame respectively.

In making the clasp, no material is cut out or wasted. The tongue is rendered more resilient for gripping purposes and its manipulation is facilitated by bending it near its root, to one side of the frame, as indicated at 1a in Figs. 2 and 3. This also has the effect of shortening the leverage of he tongue. Normally this bend, and in fact, practically the whole tongue, is below or to one side of the plan of the frame.

In use, the clasp is usually held with the thumb under the bend and with two fingers above the respective side pieces 5, 6. Pressure upon the frame and tongue in opposite directions brings the parts to the position shown in Fig. 3, that is, with the gripping end of the tongue above the frame, ed that a necktie or other article to be held, inclicated at 15, may be slipped in between. the frame and the tongue. Release of the pressure results in the gripping of the article between the oppositely pointed teeth of the tongue and the frame end, where it is securely held but can be readily released by simply again applying pressure as in the manner described.

I claim 1. A clasp comprising a blank having a rectangularly shaped tongue stamped therefrom the free end of the tongue being of tapering formation, said tongue being bent adjacent its root, the tapering end of the tongue and the adjacent inner edge of the blank being toothed to enter a fabric gripped therebetween.

2. A clasp comprising a generally fiat frame with end pieces and side pieces surrounding an integral tongue, the free end of said tongue and the adjacent inner edge of the frame being serrated and the points of said serrations onv the tongue and frame respectively being turned in opposite directions.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

VVILLIAlll H. STEVENS. 

